Lockon flashed Ailee a smile and pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on. There was a sort of excited gleam in his eye.

"Guess what?" he asked, instead of a greeting, but with a smile. "You get to join us soon, Butterfly."

Her eyes widened in shock. She stuttered.

"Just what I said," he said. "Come on. There's something you need to see."

Lockon led her to a sea port, the waves glistening under the moonlight. It was empty. Suddenly, the Cherudim revealed itself and opened its cockpit. Inside was the orange haro that always accompanied Lockon whenever he had a mission. It had accompanied his dead twin as well when that twin was still the one that carried the name Lockon Stratos, or so he told her.

He helped her in.  The Cherudim's cockpit, just like all the other Gundams, had a standard one-man cockpit. However, one or two people could fit behind the chair, though the ride would not have been comfortable. They would have to get through the whole ride standing.

"It's going to be a short ride, I promise you," he said as he took off.

They arrived on the island that had become their base on earth; it was cloaked with GN particles, keeping it off other people's radars.

Ian met them with a smile on his face. Ailee had never seen such a smug, happy look on the man, but she'd learned that this was the kind of expression he normally wore when he and the rest of the team were able to create a machine worthy of supporting Aeolia Schenberg's ideals. They'd never be able to match the man, but at least they were able to live by his ideals.

They were led down to where the mobile suits were contained, leaving haro to dock it for them. Ailee had a hard time getting out, though, since the space was cramped, and she was hardly able to move during the ride. Her body had stiffened. Their short walk helped loosen her muscles again.

At the hangar, Marie greeted them. The other meisters were busy in the control room.

Allelujah and Setsuna were both in their pilot suits--and so was a third figure, who was furiously typing away on the computer. Ian strode in and clapped the meister on the shoulder with a big smile, which was returned.

Mia greeted Ailee. "Ailee, I'd like you to meet your modelled Gundam, the Aegis," she said, motioning for her to look at one of the two Gundams that lay side-by-side in the hangar. "Ian told me that your pilot suit was red, so we customized it to be red."

"And why are you in black?" Ailee asked.

"Because my Gundam is black by colour," she replied with a smile. "That one beside it is the Blitz."

"Originally, we'd put in a battery pack so you could use it as a back-up machine for the other meisters if they ever get in trouble," Ian explained. "But we all know batteries don't last too long, not on the field. So we couldn't give it to you until we could develop a more powerful source of energy--or a battery pack that had more juice in less space, whichever came first.

"But Mia here gave us designs for a nuclear powered drive. Tried and tested, it's got a lot of juice, but not as good as an original GN Drive, but better than a pseudo-GN Drive." He really looked like a proud father.

"Ian installed GN particle dispersers into the body of the Aegis, so you'll be able to hide yourself from the enemy in a way similar to the other machines. The only thing is, you can't keep it on too long--the emitters don't have enough power to sustain the emitters for long periods of time. I think that you'd really like the changes we've made to the machine, Ailee. The Aegis is now a transformable mobile suit--with a Scylla canon as the main weapon when in another form," Mia explained, pulling out a design plate of the Aegis, with labels extending from the illustration, like in textbooks.

"As you can see, the Scylla theoretically has the same fire power as one of the Seravee's single canons. Unfortunately, an output as powerful as the combination of those canons cannot be replicated due to the proximity of the canon to the cockpit--would you prefer it if we had the same output?” she asked.

“No, I think I wouldn’t be able to handle the Seravee’s main canon,” she immediately blurted out, causing Lockon to smile. “I-I mean-“

“I understand,” she replied. Then, she began drawing out more of the design sheets. “Well, you have the standard beam sabers, igelstellungs on both sides of the head. Your beam rifle is on the right, shield is on the left, as is standard. Would there be anything you would like to add?”

Ailee shook her head. “I think that would be enough.”

“You can never have enough fire power out there, Ailee. Are you good with close combat?” Mia asked. She wasn’t able to reply. “No? Yes? We’ll have to see?”

Ailee opened and closed , not sure how to reply. She’d been suggested to be a mobile suit pilot, but she’s never actually been in a mobile suit. She’s never actually had to fight for real before.

“Setsuna, will you please test Ailee in close combat?” she asked, checking the statistics of the machines. “Preferably on the Exia, please. Ian’s been complaining of your abuse to the 00. Besides, the Exia’s a lot more agile, the kind of machines that we want the Aegis against.”

“What?” Ailee exclaimed. “But not even the A-Laws have that much speed with the pseudo-drives!”

“Ailee, I designed the new Aegis, and the Blitz. If I can do that without the lavish funds, then that means the people that have all the funds in the world won’t be too far off from the possible target of actually mass producing more and more mobile suits that will surpass the caliber of that of the ones in existence,” Mia reminded. “I don’t doubt that you’re really good, and that the others are, too. But if it’s going to be us against them, I’d rather have the pilot’s upper hand rather than the machines. They’re trained soldiers, you’re not.”

“She’s right, you know,” Lockon commented. “It’s the only upper hand we have left.”

She nodded reluctantly.

When Ailee got out of the changing room, Setsuna was already in the Exia. Ian, Marie and Lockon were the ones manning the computer room.

-Ailee, Setsuna, do you hear me?- Mia's voice came through the speakers.

-Copy- Setsuna said.

"I hear you," she replied.

-Great. Ian will be getting as much data as he can on the results of the mobile suit with this sparring match- Mia explained. -I won't be watching everything., I'll be joining you in the sparring session, and so will Allelujah. The Arios' design allows it for hit-and-run operations. This is the design that you need to be wary of.-

"No one told me that all of you would be joining me! I'm not ready for this!" she exclaimed.

-Relax, Ailee. It's just a spar, we won't hurt you.- Allelujah assured her.

-You can do it, Butterfly. When you get out there, one-on-one won't exist anymore. Besides, you need to prove to everyone why you're a butterfly.- Lockon said.

Ailee sighed. She wanted to whimper, but everyone would hear her.

Allelujah chuckled. -Don't be too tense. We just want to know what you can do.-

"Okay," she replied weakly.

After moving the limbs of her machine to see how they move, Ailee took on the offensive and directly attacked the Exia. However, Setsuna’s reaction time was far more honed than Ailee’s, having fought more battles than she, and the Aegis’ beam saber flew out of its grip.

-Setsuna, don’t get too carried away.- Ian reminded, with an edge to his voice.

-Roger.- Setsuna simply replied.

-Give it all you’ve got, Butterfly.- Lockon reminded.

Ailee strengthened her resolve and attacked harder, faster. Their machines danced around the field, blocking and attacking, trying to get the upper hand.

A flash of movement caught her eye: an opening for Setsuna. Before his attack could hit, the Exia’s arm blade was stopped in mid-air.

Ian called all of them back in, and the other mobile suit, the black one that had laid beside the Aegis just before the activity, showed itself. Its shield was brought up against the Exia’s blade--the only kind of blade that could pierce a GN Field. Both units dropped their weapons and headed for the hangar.

They filed into the room, with Setsuna saying something to Mia, who merely shrugged. He walked over to Ailee and apologized; he didn’t expect that his attack would do that. He didn’t even expect that the Aegis would trip just like a human would, not in that situation. He expected Ailee to counter his move, he expected her to put up a fight. Instead, he almost killed her.

"What happened, Ailee?" Lockon asked.

"I saw something," she replied. "Something orange."

"That was the Arios," Ian said. He was on the computer, gathering the data from the Aegis' recording. A brief flash of orange came into view, and Ian paused the video.

"You saw something orange and you got distracted?" Lockon asked. "Do you know how dangerous that could be in real life? Do you know how dangerous that was just moments ago? You could have been killed!"

"I know, but I'm not, now am I?" she asked, a little annoyed at his reaction.

"Look, it's my fault, okay?" Allelujah said, butting in. "Ms. Sumeragi contacted me with the details of the next mission. You guys were too busy to answer."

"What mission?" Setsuna asked.

"Rebels from North Korea will be beginning their movement tonight," he said. "And we're asked to intervene."

"Meisters?"

"If the Aegis is ready, then Ailee and Lockon," he explained.

"A little early for a maiden voyage for the Aegis, don't you think?" Mia asked.

"The Aegis is ready, but the pilot isn't," Ian concluded. "Not yet. We have to tell Sumeragi."

"Ian!" Ailee exclaimed. "I can do this. Let me." But before she could explain further, Sumeragi popped onto the screen with Tieria beside her. They seemed to be discussing something important.

"Finally," Sumeragi sighed with a breath of relief. "I've given Allelujah the mission plan, I think you can handle it."

"There's a problem, Sumeragi," Ian said, catching the two in space off guard.

He began to explain, but it all boiled down to the next words Tieria spoke. "Then we'll send the Exia as a backup. Ailee cannot be removed from this mission, Veda recommended it."